By KTAR.com | September 7, 2016 at 7:39 pmUPDATED: September 8, 2016 at 11:36 am

All traffic is forced off at McDowell Road on State Route 51 after a woman was shot in the head on the freeway near Thomas Road Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2016.

LISTEN: Phoenix Police Department Sgt. Jon Howard

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PHOENIX — A woman was shot while driving on a Phoenix freeway Wednesday night, and later died a fire department official confirmed.

The shooting shut down State Route 51 at Thomas Road heading northbound, and all ramps from Interstate 10 and Loop 202 were closed for an extended period of time Wednesday night and into early Thursday morning as police investigate.

Phoenix police are searching for three male suspects who were in a white work-style truck with ladder racks and a toolbox. It may have exited the Piestewa Freeway at Thomas Road after the shooting, but it had not yet been located.

Police said that the woman, 49-year-old Dinya Farmer, who died was one of five or six drivers who had called 911 around 7:20 p.m. about a white truck driving aggressively on I-10 westbound. Farmer said she was being chased by a truck carrying three men.

“These men had apparently been chasing this woman all the way from Seventh Avenue and Broadway (Road),” Phoenix Police Sgt. Jon Howard told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Bruce St. James and Pamela Hughes on Thursday.

The truck was following Farmer as she entered the freeway at the ministack, but operators heard shots fired before the call ended abruptly. Officers arrived to find Farmer had crashed into the median and was suffering from a gunshot wound. She was taken to the hospital in critical condition and later died.

Howard said Farmer did not say why the men were following her when she called 911, but he doesn’t believe the shooting was a random incident.

Four other vehicles were involved in minor crashes because of the incident, police said.

Two other victims were taken to a hospital in stable condition from injuries suffered in the crashes.

Howard said anyone who believes they’re being followed should call 911 and stick to main roads so police can catch up.

Anyone with information on the shooting should contact the Phoenix Police Department at 602-262-6141 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.